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It was near this spot that J. D. Lee operated his ferry across the Colorado.Photo Paul Fretheim

CLICK IN IMAGE TO OPEN A 360° PANO OF THIS LOCATION.

Topo Map: Glen Canyon Dam; Coordinates: 36° 52’ N - 111° 35’ W

Lee’s Ferry, Lonely Dell Ranch and Navajo Bridgeby Paul Fretheim

The deep canyons and churning turbid waters of the ColoradoRiver have long presented a formidable barrier to travel. Before

the ferry was built at the mouth of the Paria river by J. D. Lee inDecember of 1871, there was no safe or dependable place to crossthe Colorado River between Moab, Utah and Searchlight, Nevada, adistance of over 1000 kilometers. Even today, there are only threebridges over the river between Moab and Hoover Dam near Las Ve-gas. They are: the bridge at the mouth of the Dirty Devil River, theGlen Canyon Dam Bridge and Navajo Bridge.

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The Escalante ExpeditionThe history at Lee’s Ferry is a long and colorful one. The first

European explorers through the area were the Franciscan PriestsAtanasio Dominguz and Silvestre Velez de Escalante. They traveledthrough the area in 1776 trying to find a trade route between theSpanish settlements at Santa Fe, New Mexico and Monterey, Califor-nia. They found the travel very difficult, and the early first snows ofwinter in the high country to the north and west of the Paria Riverforced them to abandon their mission and return to Santa Fe. Ontheir return trip they searched for a way to cross the Colorado Riverand spent several days at what later became Lee’s Ferry trying toford the river unsuccessfully. They eventually were able to ford theriver some 60 kilometers east as the crow flies at a place that camethereafter to be called “El Vado de los Padres” or “The Crossing ofthe Fathers.” This site is now submerged under the waters of LakePowell, the reservoir behind the Glen Canyon Dam. You can hike tothe area of today’s Padre Bay through the Escalante Canyons-Kaparowitz Plateau-Grand Staircase National Monument and the GlenCanyon National Recreation Area.

There were very few European visitors to the mouth of the Pariafor 100 years after the Spanish Padres were there. John Wesley Powelland his men camped there on Powell’s first expedition in 1869 andagain spent time there on the expedition of 1871-1872.

Lonely DellWhen Lee settled there in late 1871, he and his wife Emma, set

up a ranch which they named ‘Lonely Dell.” Several of the old logstructures are still standing and you can visit this most interestinghistorical site which is located a few kilometers from Lee’s Ferry on abend of the Paria River at the entrance to the Paria Canyon-PariaPlateau Wilderness Area.

The Mountain Meadows MassacreJ. D. Lee was involved in what was probably the darkest chapter

in the history of Mormon settlement of the Indian Territory. JosephSmith had reportedly found the gold tablets with the words of theangel Moroni in western New York. He and his followers were perse-

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cuted and forced in to exile a number of times before his survivors,led by Brigham Young, fled to the Great Salt Lake valley in 1847.

One of the places the Mormons tried to settle along the way wasin Missouri. The followers of Joseph Smith’s teachings were no morekindly treated there than they had been in New York or Illinois be-fore, and were forced to leave Missouri. The persecution and preju-dice they had suffered in Missouri led to a deep seated resentmentand even a desire for revenge among some of the followers of theMormon church. Reportedly a group was formed among the churchmembers known as the “Avenging Angels.” They believed that itwas their mission to make sure that Utah would be for the Saintsonly and that others would not be allowed to settle there. This sen-timent arose, at lest in part, from the belief that if other people didbegin to settle in Utah in large numbers, the Mormons might onceagain face the prospect of persecution and exile.

A covered wagon, stock and two men are ferried across theColorado River on a skow at Lee’s Ferry in 1900.

Photo F. H. Maude - GRCA #31350

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J. D. Lee was one of the members of the “Avenging Angels.”When, in 1858, a wagon train of 128 men, women and children fromMissouri was passing through western Utah near the present daytown of Enterprise, a group of the Avenging Angels was whipped upinto an emotional fury of revenge by Lee and others. They dressedup as Indians, surrounded the wagon train, and over a period of afew days, massacred all the members of the train over the age ofsix. The youngest children, it was believed, would not be able to

Lee’s Lonely Dell Ranch. The Paria river runs along the red cliffs across the openfield. Its waters were diverted to irrigate the ranch. When Lee and his family

farmed here, their orchard was located here. The Park Service, which administersLonely Dell Ranch today, has planted an orchard near the old homestead in theinterest of restoring the historic flavor of the ranch. Fruit from the orchard is

available to the public at little or no cost in season.Photo Paul Fretheim

CLICK IN IMAGE TO OPEN A 360° PANO OF THIS LOCATION.

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report on what had happened to the train, and were adopted intolocal Mormon homes.

Lee Exiled, Later ExecutedNews of the massacre did, however, get out eventually and fears

of being brought to justice led J. D. Lee to hide out at the mouth ofthe Paria River, which was then one of the most remote locationsanywhere. Lee’s nearest non-Indian neighbors were weeks of diffi-cult travel away through unknown territory.

Lee was commissioned by the church to set up a homesteadand operate a ferry across the Colorado at the mouth of the Paria.Lee’s Ferry became an important part of the route between theMormon settlements on the Virgen River, such as St. George, andSalt Lake.

Eventually pressure both from within and without the churchto bring the perpetrators of the massacre to justice led to J. D.

Arizona's Historic Navajo Bridge spans Marble Canyon in a graceful silvery archapproximately 470 ft. above the Colorado River. The original 1928 bridge thatreplaced Lee’s Ferry is on the right. The newer, wider bridge on the left was

completed in 1995. Photo Paul Fretheim

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Lee’s arrest in 1877. He was returned to the site of the massacre atMountain Meadows and executed by firing squad.

The ferry operated at this site for 50 years and was eventuallyreplaced by the Navajo Bridge which was completed in 1928.

See Also: J. D. Lee and Lonely Dell Ranch from Dellenbaugh

J. D. Lee and two of his wives. This picture was taken in 1875 when Lee was hidingout at the Lonely Dell Ranch. Nearest wife to Lee appears to be pregnant. Further

wife appears to have been “hitting the corn squeezns.”GRCA 31347